U.S. Education Department Funds 13 Grants to Promote Student Exchanges and Partnerships Between U.S. and Brazilian Universities

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of 13 new grants totaling $364,904 to promote partnerships between universities and to increase education and training opportunities in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines for students and faculty in both countries.

“Education is not something that can be done in isolation, especially in this rapidly-changing, global marketplace,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. “U.S.-Brazil student partnerships are a great opportunity to help students in both our countries gain the skills they need to succeed.”

The U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program (the U.S.-Brazil Program) fosters partnerships through the exchange of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff as part of a joint curriculum development. The U.S.-Brazil Program provides grants for up to four years to consortia of at least two academic institutions each from Brazil and the U.S. Funds cover stipends for student and faculty travel abroad as well as for curriculum development in areas such as watershed management, and weather and climate impact on agricultural and water resources.

The program is jointly administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and the Brazilian Ministry of Education.

In August 2007, Secretary Spellings led a delegation of U.S. university presidents to Brazil and Chile to promote programs such as the U.S.-Brazil Program that foster higher education partnerships and exchanges between the U.S. and other nations. The delegation trip followed President Bush’s first-ever White House Conference on the Americas last summer to emphasize education as a key to continued success in the Western Hemisphere.

Following is a list of FY 2008 grant awards under the U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program.

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Project in Ruminant Production in the 21st Century
US Lead:Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
US Partner: University of California, Davis, CA
US Partner: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA

Mobility Program in Race, Development and Social Inequality: Access and Equity in Higher Education in Brazil and the US
US Lead: Howard University, Washington, DC
US Partner: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN